


riff raff, street rat

by oeuvre



Category: Kuroko no Basuke | Kuroko's Basketball
Genre: Gen, Mild Language
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-07-15
Updated: 2013-07-15
Packaged: 2017-12-20 05:59:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,327
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/883744
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/oeuvre/pseuds/oeuvre
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When you’re orphaned and living out on the streets, you’re not supposed to be picky about what you eat.</p>
            </blockquote>





	riff raff, street rat

 

Kagami is introduced to the new kid on a rainy spring afternoon that looks like a rainy spring night and is told that he will be in charge of showing Akashi the ropes. Nijimura, at the time, also makes it very clear for him that Akashi, despite the amount of money that his family had owned and the luxury that he had been living in, is just like the rest of them now and would be treated the same way.

Kagami isn’t stupid enough to challenge Nijimura, even though he had seen Akashi walking down a road just last week holding his mother’s gloved hand while dressed in a coat that looked more expensive than anything Kagami could possibly own in his life. Now, though, Akashi looks just like one of them—clothed in a hoodie that Kagami is sure is borrowed from one of the 8-year olds and a pair of faded jeans that would begin to tear at the knees within the week. All of his old clothes must have burned up in the estate with his parents and maids and butlers.

"Why am I the one that’s looking after him?" Kagami asks, watching as Akashi lifts a hand and presses against the dirty white gauze that’s taped to his left eye. Even the sole survivor didn’t escape from that fire unscathed.

"You guys are around the same age. And you never do anything except sleep and play around with that stupid ball Daiki stole. I didn’t want you getting lazy on me." Nijimura’s attention is stolen as Kuroko comes tearing out of the warehouse like a demon, closely followed by an angry Kise. “Shit. Tetsuya probably left worms in his pillow again. Taiga, show Seijuurou around." And he leaves just like that.

Kagami turns and stares down at Akashi, narrowing his eyes just a tad. Akashi stares back, his gaze strong and steeled and unreadable.

"I’m Kagami Taiga. How old are you?"

"Seven," Akashi replies.

Kagami nods, satisfied, and takes him off to find lunch. “Same," he says, as they turn onto a big street.

 

 

"That building back there was our base. It used to be a warehouse, but Nijimura started gathering all of us there when he first found Kuroko and Aomine at the side of a road," Kagami explains between bites of his half of a loaf of bread. Akashi is studying his own portion, brows slightly furrowed. “We’re a gang." He says this proudly, before backtracking. “But not a bad one."

"You steal food," Akashi says pointedly, lifting his bread.

Kagami huffs. The two of them are huddled under a tarp drawn between two stacks of crates in an alley, waiting out the worst of the rain while they ate. “We don’t have any money, of course we have to. What would you do, starve?"

Akashi doesn’t respond at first, and Kagami feels his eyes on him as he eats up the last of his bread. Akashi still hasn’t touched his. “In my house," he finally starts, “We had western crepes for breakfast sometimes, with jam and preservatives from the garden. Lunch could be a gigantic bowl of black bean noodles or Korean cold vermicelli, and dinner could be as big as a multicourse dinner party with friends served outside in the backyard."

Kagami is impressed, but tries to hide it by coughing. He didn’t even know what vermicelli was. “I like ramen noodles," he offers, “But Nijimura doesn’t like us stealing them because he says it’s a pain in the ass to find boiling water to make them."

"Ramen is unhealthy. There’s a lot of MSG in it."

Kagami decides that Akashi’s too annoying and too smart.

"Are you going to finish your bread?" he asks.

Akashi looks down at it, and Kagami sees for the first time that his fingers are shaking a bit. He doesn’t blame him—it’s pretty cold with the rain and the wind at the same time.

"It’s soggy," Akashi says quietly.

He pushes it into Kagami’s hands, and Kagami eats it for him. He makes Akashi promise to not tell Nijimura that he ate his share, or the older boy would get angry. Akashi nods.

 

 

The next morning, Nijimura pulls Kagami and Akashi aside and assigns them the higher end of town to wander. They’re dressed in different rags and passed more old chunks of bread before being sent on their way.

"We’re each told to walk around a different area a day, so it’s not always the same people in the same places. Makes us less memorable," Kagami explains. Akashi is hungry enough from not eating anything the day before that he makes a few nibbles on the bread before making a face and passing it to Kagami again, who doesn’t refuse.

"Why?"

Kagami stares at him. “You wanna starve? It’s to steal food, obviously. We just gotta steal enough to feed ourselves during the day and bring back whatever we can for the ones that didn’t get their hands on anything."

He can tell that Akashi isn’t pleased with this answer, but neither of them say anything more until they step out of a particular alleyway and into the area that Nijimura had designated them to stay within. Kagami pulls Akashi towards one of the closest restaurants known for always keeping its kitchen door propped open.

"You’re going to steal from them?" Akashi asks, disdain heavy in his voice. Kagami knows better than to pay him any mind this time, and he tugs him along with the full intention of showing him the ropes. Akashi digs his bare feet into the pavement. “No."

"What’s the problem?" Kagami is nearly at his limit with this kid, and he shows it by flinging the grip that he had on Akashi’s arm. The boy’s arm flies and smacks against the corner of the building next to him, and he tries and fails to hide a wince at the impact. “Do you want to starve and die? Cause I can tell you right now that Nijimura and the other guys and me won’t be around if that’s what you want to do."

Akashi turns a glare on him, and for some reason, Kagami suddenly feels very foolish. “Don’t put words in my mouth, I never said that. I just don’t want to steal from there."

"How are you supposed to get food then, huh?"

There’s a moment’s pause, before Akashi turns and starts back down the backstreet. Kagami runs to catch up with him, and is eventually just left trailing him as he moves expertly through alleys. He’s surprised to find them jogging down twists and turns that even he hasn’t noticed before. “Mother would often take me to this corner of town during her weekend shopping trips. We’d have lunch here, so I know all of the good restaurants."

"Uh, that’s cool and all, but—" Akashi slides past a man walking their direction and Kagami makes a quick dart around him, bumping into his side. The man turns with a glare, but the two kids are already off again. “Just a, uh, reminder though that we don’t really have money right now. And honestly it’s a lot easier stealing food than begging." They had other kids for that. The most notable were Kise and Himuro, who were handpicked to stand at sides of roads and charm strangers out of their money.

"I know. We aren’t buying." They emerge from the side road and Kagami finds himself in one of the smaller pedestrian streets of the city. There is a row of small restaurants and family-owned shops, the kind that specialize in food that only the locals would know about. It’s still early, so there aren’t many people on the streets, save for the few young couples walking by with linked arms and the occasional businessman or woman rushing towards the main road and the taxis parked along the edge.

Akashi stops in front of one of the smaller places and then pulls Kagami through the thin gap separating that restaurant and the one next to it till they’re standing at the back door. “So what’s different about this place and the one I was going to rob, again?" Akashi throws him a critical glance.

"Robbing a Maji Burger is the same as robbing a trashcan," he says. “This place is much better. Their beef noodles are my favorite."

Kagami stares at him and is close, so close, to just opening his mouth and asking why it made a damn what you ate when you’re starving and going to steal it nonetheless, but Akashi is already tugging him towards the back door. He realizes that there’s already a surprising amount of customers inside, judging by the clamor of the single chef yelling from the kitchen and the amount of noise coming from the customers in the front.

Akashi surprises him by being the one to take the initiative and slide open the door wider with his foot before sneaking in, his single eye focused on the back of the man in the apron. The inside of the kitchen is so hot that Kagami feels sweat beading almost instantaneously upon stepping into the kitchen. He tries to follow Akashi further forward but the other boy puts up his hand and signs for him to stay put. They both keep to the shadows of counters and wait for their chances.

It takes a few minutes. Kagami is thinking about how the hunger in his belly could have been suppressed already if they had just grabbed a few burgers, but something in him told him that Akashi would have looked at that food with the same disdain that he shows those stale portions of bread. Just as his legs are cramping and he feels more and more tempted to just drag Akashi out of there, the chef turns suddenly and sticks his head out the kitchen door, calling for the only waiter.

Akashi is off in a flash towards the countertop before Kagami even registers what’s happening. When he catches up, bare feet making soft pattering noises as he checks frantically over his shoulder to see the chef with his head still poking outside, Akashi immediately shoves a bowl in his hands and gives him a nudge to run. The bowl is dangerously hot, and that coupled with the surprise at having it pushed into his arms would have made him drop it if only the scent that he caught from the steam wasn’t so rich and delicious. It went straight to his stomach, and it growled even louder.

“Go!" Akashi hisses from behind him, and they’re off and out of the kitchen before the chef even turns back.

Once they’re outside, Kagami realizes that the heat from the bowl has burned his arms numb. He wants to put it on the ground for just a second so he could wrap his shirt around it or something, but Akashi dodges around him and hightails it to the shadows of the nearest alley. He follows, sweating more and more through his thin shirt as they push further and further into the network of backstreets, until Akashi suddenly stops right in front of a tattered, discarded couch that easily takes up the width of half the alleyway.

Kagami sits himself on it and gingerly places the bowl down on the cushions. His arms are red and raw, with accompanying circles of red from where the soup of the noodles had splashed out and hit his bare skin. He looks up, and sees Akashi seated on the other end with his bowl in front of him.

"Why did you get cold noodles when I got burning hot ones?" Kagami asks. He tries to not sound accusing but fails miserably. Akashi’s bowl was pretty, with thick noodles drowning in a light colored soup and small slices of chicken sitting on top with chopped green onion. There was no steam, and his arms were perfectly fine.

Akashi does look a little sorry when he sees the state of Kagami’s arms. “I passed the first one I reached to you. You got a good one though."

Kagami’s bowl of noodles is messy looking because he didn’t think to keep them steady as he was running. There are slices of what he assumes is beef sitting on top of thinner noodles, with bean sprouts and long tubes of green onions. It was all submerged in a soup that looked more red than brown. “What is it?"

"The house’s special kimchi noodles. My father always got those."

The rumbling and pain from his stomach takes on new levels as a draft wafts the scent right up his nose. His mouth starts to water. “That’s great and all, but how am I supposed to eat these again?”

He looks up from his bowl and sees Akashi staring at him with wooden chopsticks in his right hand, pinching noodles that were already halfway to his mouth. "You didn’t get any utensils?" he asks, his voice too surprised for Kagami’s liking.

"How was I supposed to—” Kagami breaks off, suddenly irritated. He, again, thinks back to how much less trouble they’d have if they had just stolen food from Maji Burger instead.

"I’d assumed that you’d know better." There’s a pause as the noodles in Akashi’s chopsticks disappear into his mouth. The slurping sound only makes Kagami more hungry, which in turn makes him more frustrated.

"Alright, screw it," he says, completely ready to jump off the couch and dig around the surrounding garbage for anything he could clean and use to eat, “I’ll just—"

"No, wait."

Kagami watches as Akashi grabs another mouthful of noodles before tapping the chopsticks against the rim of his bowl to shake off loose droplets and offering them to Kagami.

"Really?"

"Yes, really, unless you’d rather use a rusty spring from this sofa." Akashi emphasizes by making a small kick with his feet, and the couch squeaks in protest. “We can take turns."

Kagami nods and eagerly tugs the chopsticks from Akashi’s grip. The noodles burn his tongue but are so mouthwatering and satisfying that, before he knows it, he’s breaking out into a sweat from the steam and is shoveling ridiculous amounts in his mouth at a time. It’s only the sound of Akashi clearing his throat that has him dropping his chopsticks and looking back up, eyes wide.

"This is the best thing ever," he means says past his full mouth, but only ends up making low, blowing sounds and spitting out some stray pieces of noodle. Akashi just continues to stare at him until Kagami realizes that he’s been holding onto the chopsticks for a really long time. “Oh." He chews and swallows before sucking the chopsticks clean and holding them out to Akashi.

Akashi looks at the saliva glistening on it with his brows furrowed just a bit before sighing and letting it drop. The two of them continue to pass the chopsticks between them until both of their bowls are gone and Kagami’s is licked clean.

"Okay, yeah, but Maji Burger would have been nice too," he says to Akashi on their way back.

 

 

Kagami quickly learns that he made a mistake that day—he really, really shouldn’t have let Akashi have his way.

The next day, when they’re making their way towards the center of town, he receives a brief display from Akashi of just how much he didn’t want to eat anything from that particular bakery. Kagami tries arguing with him; they were in more of a rush today, they had gone Akashi’s way yesterday, he still had battle scars on his arms from that day. Akashi doesn’t listen.

To Kagami’s chagrin, the boy actually takes off in the other direction when Kagami tries to pull him forcefully through the doors. He sees Akashi half an hour later, when he’s chewing on an end of a burnt baguette, working his way through a glazed bean bun as big as his forearm. Kagami gapes, but does nothing else except try (and fail) to weasel a piece of it for himself as they head back.

The day after is the eastern half of town by the ocean, and is a handful of cooked shrimp for Kagami and a fresh twelve-piece sushi set pinched from the picnic basket on a yacht for Akashi. He was nearly caught this time, too—despite how fast Akashi could be, the woman had turned just a heartbeat too early and had yelled at him as he was dashing off to where Kagami was watching him disbelievingly from the corner.

"You’ve got to stop that," he tells Akashi. It takes the other a while to respond, he’s too busy licking up some caviar with his tongue.

"Why? I thought this was working perfectly for the both of us. It’s a nice arrangement."

"It’s not. You’re putting yourself in too much danger."

"Mother had always said that only those with regrets complain."

"Then at least you have to share," Kagami most definitely doesn’t whine as he lunges for a piece of sushi. Akashi dodges him perfectly.

Kagami swears he sees a tiny smile in the corner of Akashi’s mouth when he responds, “Get your own next time."

 

 

And then one day, after another week, Kagami catches Akashi sitting in a corner of the warehouse by himself, looking down at one of the empty bowls from the first time they went stealing together. There’s something about him that’s off compared to how he usually acts. Kagami notices that and sits down next to him nonetheless, pulling his knees up to his chest and settling his chin on top.

Akashi turns to him after a while. “Father had always loved these noodles so much," he says, patting the sides of the bowl with his left hand, “that he’d always tried to have the cook imitate them. But he could never make them the way that Father liked them, so we’d have to go eat at that restaurant anyway. Mother joked that it was just an excuse for him to spend more money, because our cook was the best in the town."

"Where’s your cook now?"

Kagami notices Akashi’s little mouth pinching together. “Fire."

"Oh," he says awkwardly.

Akashi just nods and sniffs a bit, and Kagami realizes just then why Akashi’s cheeks had looked so shiny in the light.

He can’t say or do anything, except make a quick run back to his hiding spot in the warehouse to bring out a small container of strawberry mochi, which Akashi tries to smile at, and shares it between the two of them.

 

 

Another few days, and Kagami and Akashi are making their way back to the noodle place per Kagami’s request. Akashi is still unnaturally mute, and doesn’t even tell Kagami off for going in before him when they do reach the restaurant.

This time Kagami is the one who motions for Akashi to keep behind him as he creeps in towards the countertop. The chef is still there; his back turned to them just like it had been the first trip they made.

It takes even less time now—as soon as Kagami darts behind one of the nearby counters, the chef suddenly hangs up his apron and shuffles into a side room, coughing into a beefy hand. Kagami immediately jumps towards the counter and finds two bowls of kimchi noodles sitting there with chopsticks sitting neatly on top. He grabs the nearest one and pushes it right into Akashi’s hands before taking the other one for himself.

The noodles smell as good as they did the first time, and to his surprise, they aren’t nearly as hot. Kagami doesn’t think anything of it, gesturing for Akashi to exit the back doors before him. The smaller boy complies, making his way into the shadows in such an expert manner that no one would have guessed that he had only begun stealing just a few weeks ago.

Kagami’s about to follow when he suddenly feels a prickling at the back of his neck. He turns, one foot already out the door, and sees a pair of eyes staring right at him. Cold chills sweep down his back when he meets the chef’s eyes, and his arms start to grow slack as he reflexively feels himself letting go of his bowl to run for it.

The chef blinks once. And then he smiles. And lifts a finger up to his lips before whispering, “Shh," into it.

Kagami gapes.

The man shoos him. He turns tail and runs, feeling something else swelling up inside of him that suddenly made him both want to laugh and cry.

Akashi looks at him urgently when Kagami joins him in the shadows. He had seen everything. “Did he do…are we…?"

Kagami has to pause to catch his breath. He sets down his noodles, bends over until his hands are resting on his knees and his face is turned towards the ground. He realizes that the chef’s eyes hadn’t been looking at him initially, but had instead been turned towards Akashi’s back.

"We’re good," he says, looking up to grin at Akashi, “We’re gonna be okay."

 

 

It doesn’t take the other kids long to catch onto what they’ve been doing, but when they do, it’s all Kagami’s fault.

"What? You haven’t made a trip to Maij Burger in weeks? Why the hell not?" Aomine sounds part furious, part heartbroken when he corners Kagami in the base one night when they’re laying out the blankets for bed.

Kagami scowls and tries to shove away from him, but he should have known Aomine, having been denied of his teriyaki burgers for a few weeks, wouldn’t let him through so easily. “We found someplace better in the area," he retorts, his eyes flickering to where Akashi was laying down his blanket in a corner. He had never liked to sleep by the others.

"Better? That’s a lie and you know it, they can’t be better if they don’t have teriyaki burgers!" Aomine cries, frustrated.

"It is better, you just don’t know because you haven’t eaten real good food before!"

"Have so!"

"Maji Burger doesn’t count! You probably don’t even know what vermicelli is!" Aomine’s thrown off by the word, and Kagami sees his chance to attack. “It’s a noodle, you stupidass! And it’s great!"

"Why would you eat v-verminjelly if you could eat Maji Burger?"

"Stop yelling, you little shits," Nijimura groans as he makes his way over, Imayoshi following close behind with his signature smirk and an armful of tattered blankets. “What the hell is going on?"

"Kagami’s been slacking off!"

"Have not!” Kagami yells, his eyes blazing. He sees Akashi moving closer to them, his own brow furrowed a bit. “Ahomine’s just being selfish!"

"I don’t ever get assigned to the area where Maji Burger is so I can’t get those teriyaki burgers myself, and Kagami isn’t bringing them for me anymore!"

Nijimura sighs. Imayoshi gives him a condescending pat on the shoulder before calling out to Kasamatsu at the other end of the warehouse and making his way over to distribute more of the blankets. “We can’t assign you there you stupidass, did you forget that you got caught trying to steal all of the teriyaki burgers they had?"

"I had to help get him away from the cops," a voice supplies from right behind Nijimura, causing the older boy to curse and flinch. Kuroko steps out from behind him, sucking on a lollipop that Kise had passed to him from his spoils.

"No you didn’t, you were trying to make a vanilla milkshake for yourself in the commotion!" Aomine says as Akashi moves closer towards them, curious by the amount of people gathering. He locks eyes with Kagami in his confusion and Kagami just shrugs.

"I was helping," Kuroko repeats. Nijimura raises a hand to knead at his brows.

"Kagami, can you just grab Aomine a teriyaki burger next time? It won’t take you that long."

Akashi speaks up now, his voice softer than Kagami’s used to hearing it when they’re alone. “Maji Burger is unhealthy. The noodle shop that we go to only uses fresh vegetables and unprocessed ingredients. My father had befriended the owners."

They all turn to stare at him.

"The hell kind of restaurant are you two stealing from?" Nijimura finally asks. Kagami tells him the name, and he blanches. “The most expensive noodle place in town, you mean?"

"What?!" Kagami cries.

"Yes," Akashi says, at the same time, face blank. Kagami rounds on him.

"You didn’t tell me—!"

"It wouldn’t have changed anything. It would have just made you more nervous, and you might not have been able to move as fast."

Kagami splutters, ready to defend his dignity, but is suddenly stopped by Nijimura raising a hand and shaking his head at the both of them. He then proceeds to ask about the other places that they’ve recently stolen from. Akashi rattles off a list of the restaurants and bakeries and specialized cafes that they’ve visited, and even has the gall to recommend certain dishes and meals from some of them. Not to Kagami’s surprise at this point, they all turn out to be high-class, expensive places.

"You two need to stop visiting places like that. Those restaurants won’t stand having thieves so often, so they’ll be tightening security. Especially if you visit them twice." Kagami thinks about the noodle place, about the chef that had looked at Akashi with such familiarity, and almost opens his mouth to argue back.

He’s surprised, though, when he hears Akashi comply with Nijimura’s orders without argument.

He’s not surprised, however, when Akashi takes him to a small bakery the next day on their trek and stresses to him, multiple times, that this place only has the second best meat pies.

 

(And this time, Kagami makes sure to save one for Aomine.)


End file.
